I first met Caroline at the end of my second year of college in some forgettable liberal arts class that had to do with an obscure aspect of cultural study, differential from the others only because of the busty teacher with her red hair tucked into a tight bun. Not that my meeting with Caroline didn't stand out. We became close outside of class, due to our mutual friendship with Eli's girlfriend. Caroline was just starting college back then. I couldn't recall her area of study, nor could I recall much besides her pleasant company. How pleasant? She laughed a lot and said a few encouraging words from time to time.

Not to demean Caroline, but she hadn't graced my thoughts since graduating college. Now, she was quite a relief to the start of a horrible day. Her amiable smile put butterflies in my stomach-something I assumed would never happen again. Rather than enjoy an idle chat, I basked in her above-average good looks and sipped my coffee.

"So, now that we're far away from there, want to tell me what you were thinking? Sending that stupid article, I mean," she said.

"I didn't think it was stupid."

"Come on, you know what I mean!"

"It was my Maya."

"Okay," she said, squinting her eyes and biting her lower lip. After a few seconds, she let loose and burst into a shrill giggle.

"I wish I could laugh it off."

"Give it a few days. Mr. Busey will tell me to send you a message. 'Where's that Spencer idiot?' I've seen worse. He's been trying to spin all the people who quit these last few weeks into 'mass layoffs to cut costs.' We'll be sitting here a week from now, wondering why you used your Maya in the first place. Why did you? How does that thing write?"

"She dictated an article fifteen minutes after I asked."

"Impressive."

"Why go through the trouble of researching when she's never wrong?"

"Not this time."

"Yeah, not this time."

I was so angry with Maya that I considered smashing it to bits right then and there, wasting a perfectly fine phone for a few minutes of satisfaction. Incapable of error! I'd feel better telling it all to Isaac. Maybe it was worth it, just for the story.

"Do you still talk to Laurie?" I asked after a brief silence.

"Not for a year now. How about you?"

"Occasionally."

"How is she? And Eli, too. I heard his book is getting published."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure they're getting married. Eli's been waiting for this opportunity. Wouldn't be surprised if he's announcing it tonight."

"Tonight?"

"He's throwing a party. Want to come?"

"That'd be great! Can you give me a ride? I still don't have a car. Interning doesn't pay the bills."

"Sure. How is college going?"

"Down to my last few credits. Hanging on by the edge of my fingernails, to be honest. Between classes, papers, and working for Mr. Busey, I've got no time to myself. It would be nice to see you and Eli tonight. Laurie, too."

"Good thing we ran into each other. You crossed my mind the other day."

"You said so earlier. Good thoughts I hope."

"Thinking of you was pleasant. Can't say the same for the circumstance. I was working on the article after hearing the news about the missing girl. I thought, 'She's got a Caroline-like countenance.' Almond eyes, frizzy hair, pouty lips. The lips especially."

"Rodney!"

"I've got a vivid memory."

"Is that why you decided to write the article?"

"I wrote the article for the money, but the whole story had been bugging me for days. If it started to bug me because the missing girl looked like my good friend Caroline, I can't say yes or no. Somewhere between maybe and probably."

"Well, now we both know she wasn't real. Not even the picture."

"The picture had to be someone."

"An artist's rendition of someone. Still, I think they'd need to have someone else's face to render. Mine?"

"The resemblance wasn't that close, Caroline. I've never seen one so real, and I watch a ton of those high-rendered movies."

"The dirty ones?"

"Obviously."

"If there's one thing you should have learned from all this, it's that there's no substitute for the human mind. A quick search debunked your Maya's elaborate hoax."

"A search?"

"A search engine, dummy."

"A search engine that compiled a series of facts that refuted mine."

"Rodney, you can't be serious."

"I'm not. If there's one thing I learned today, it's not to get caught again. There's no substitute for the human mind, but there's no substitute for Maya. Not even another Maya. I'll let you in on a secret. You know all the articles I've published so far? I'm not the only author."

"You don't look like you're kidding."

"We're a team. She scouts the Internet for information and brings back anything relevant, then we piece it together."

"Mine tells me the weather. She's pretty thorough about it, so it's not a stretch to believe you."

"We're writing a book together. It's like having a conversation with your own subconscious. If she had hands to write, I'd be out of a job."

"Don't undersell yourself. You were always a smart guy. If your Maya was so smart, then what happened with the article?"

"A mistake. My novel is about body snatchers. She just figured it was another fiction."

"That's a huge leap in logic. Kind of creepy, too."

"Right now, she's probably looking into her mistake, double checking the sources on the disappearances, trying to differentiate fact from fiction. Must be nice to browse the net all day and night."

"Never thought a robot could write a book."

"I think the same about humans sometimes."

"You know, with all this talk about a missing girl, you're reminding me of one I knew in high school. Freshmen year, a girl named Sandy. We sat next to each other in algebra. One day, she stopped showing up. The cops questioned everyone. I talked to her a little bit, but there wasn't much I could tell them. She seemed normal enough. Then she just disappeared. A week later, no one mentioned her again. I wonder if she had any friends?"

"Or family."

"I remember a black-and-white photo hanging around the school the whole year. Now that I think about, it felt like something was missing the first day of sophomore year. Maybe she was found."

"Probably not."

"Yeah," Caroline said, looking into her empty cup of coffee. She sighed and added, "Break time is over. Still have my number?"

"I might, but remind me just in case."

On the way home, I couldn't help but wonder if the whole morning had been a dream. Finding out the whole disappearance was a ruse and meeting Caroline seemed surreal. Strangest of all, I had a date with a cute girl tonight. Such a turn of fortune was so far removed from my thoughts that it was beyond my dreams.